Wisdom in Plato’s “Apology”

Introduction

The Plato’s Apology gives an overview of Socrates’ speech which he delivered while in the court of Athens – the court was deliberating whether or not to put him to death due to his practices. As explicated by Tanner, Socrates was charged with corrupting the youth, combined with his failure to recognize the gods as well as inventing new deities.¹ Such crimes, as noted further by Tanner were punishable by death.² In his defense, Socrates relied on some form of wisdom which guided his line of questioning. In doing so, Socrates claimed to possess human wisdom, while noting that he lacks Godly wisdom. It is his understanding of human wisdom that enabled him to defend himself against his accusers. In essence, Socrates claimed to possess human wisdom which helped a lot in his defense and arguments as evidenced in sections 20c-23b of Pluto’s Apology.

Section 20c-23b of Pluto’s Apology allows the reader to see the bigger picture through the many people he questioned and interviewed on various subjects. Since the oracle had proclaimed him to be the wisest man, as observed in Verano’s study, he believed that it was his duty to tell the people the truth and spread wisdom no matter the cost.³ “This form of truth comes from an individual’s decision to recognize his own limitations with regard to knowledge”.⁴ It is important to note that Socrates risked death because his love for wisdom outweighs any concerns for safety. Ideally, Socrates used these sections to try and explain to the court what his wisdom comprises of.

Socrates relied more on the concept of human ignorance in explaining his arguments which helps a lot with understanding the kind of wisdom that he possesses. According to Taylor, “people who think they are wise and believe they know everything are in fact ignorant because in reality no one knows everything”.⁵ However, those who think they are ignorant tend to be wise because they acknowledge that they do not possess all the knowledge of the world. The statement from Taylor is critical and formed the basis of Socrates defense. For instance, the people who were accusing Socrates believed they were wise, thus making them ignorant – ignorance in the end, breeds fear. In essence, Socrates uses human wisdom to provide more insight on his accusers’ true characteristics. Instead of trying to understand Socrates message, they end up assuming that his perspective only poses a threat to their religious and moral worldviews. As such, Socrates aim was to show how reluctant people are when it comes to embracing new of thinking especially those requiring the use of human wisdom.

In line with the above, Socrates holds in Plato’s Apology that true wisdom is acquired only by acknowledging one’s own ignorance. His accusers, including Anytus, Meletus and Lycon brought him before the court because they believed he was trying to interfere with the city’s conventional structures of belief.⁶ In reality, they were only mistaking human ignorance for human wisdom. This is demonstrated well through his interactions with the politicians, poets and craftsmen whom he believed were wise people. He first describes how he interacted with the politicians of Athens. He learned that many people assume that politicians are wise and knowledgeable people, but in real sense they are not.⁷ He tried to show this to them in an effort to change how they approached and viewed some issues but they refused to listen to him. They, instead, became angry and send him away. Socrates was not discouraged since he had discovered something very important – that he was indeed wiser than the politician who thought he was wise. It is clear that although Socrates was conscious of his ignorance and openly admitted that he did not know everything.

The same was the case with poets and craftsmen of Athens – although they appeared to have some insight on some issues, they viewed themselves to be superior and unduly wise. Socrates thought that by interacting with them, he would find himself to be more ignorant – he nevertheless discovered that they cheat just like the politicians. In fact, they did not write their poems by virtue of being wise, “but because of certain natural gifts and in a state of inspiration, like the fortune-tellers…” (22c).⁸ This kind of inspiration cannot be termed as wisdom because poets have the ability to say and write a lot of beautiful things, but may not know about what they said. By conversing with the poets, Socrates, guided by human wisdom, noted that “They, because of poetry, also believe were wise about the other things they did not know about” (22c).⁹ It is clear that Socrates became fully aware that most of these poets were only concerned with conveying well-crafted and beautiful poems to their audience. They too became angry with Socrates for his observation that they knew nothing.

In view of the experience with the poets, Socrates decided to address the artisans. He had high expectation that finally he could find someone wiser than him because artisans knew things he did not know. However, they too disappointed him – he found in them the same defects as the poets. They also spread their knowledge in areas where they had little experience. As argued by Atack, most of them believed that since they developed their art appropriately, “each one of them esteemed they were wise in regards to the other things, and that mistake deemed their wisdom”.¹⁰ This, to some extend explains why, the Apology, instead of talking about wisdom of the artisans, referred to it as knowledge of the artisans.

It is clear that Socrates main mission was to use his wisdom to show his fellow citizens (Athenians) their own ignorance. However, they assume that he was only doing so to challenge their well-established beliefs. As elucidated further by Atack, Socrates believes that there is value in acknowledge one’s own ignorance.¹¹“What is probable, gentlemen,” he says to the jury, “are that in fact the god is wise and that his oracular response meant that human wisdom is worth little or nothing”.¹² This ideally explains why he emphasized the need to be aware of one’s ignorance – only the gods possesses a valuable kind of wisdom. This is further shown in his statement where he stated that “if I do not think he is, I come to the assistance of the god and show him that he is not wise”.¹³ In essence, Socrates, despite claiming that he possesses human wisdom, recognized that he lacks Godly wisdom.

Human Wisdom

Socrates started off his narration by noting that his search for wisdom begun when his childhood friend Chaerephon inquired from the Oracle of Delphos as to whether there was someone wiser than Socrates. Pythia affirmed categorically that there was “nobody wiser than him” (21a).¹⁴ Socrates was surprised by the answer because he knew very well that the Oracle is not allowed to lie. Similarly, Socrates was surprised because he consciously thought that he was not wise. The Oracle answer saw Socrates wonder in amazement – “What that the god really said and what the enigma indicates? Iam aware of not being wise, neither a little nor a lot ([Thus,] What is it that really said in affirming that I am very wise?” (21b).¹⁵ This is what prompted Socrates to embark on the journey in search of wisdom.

Therefore, this discussion holds that it was worth for Socrates to search for this kind of wisdom. It is important to note that Socrates learned a lot from his interactions with the politicians, poets and artisans. For instance, he acquired two significant lessons from the artisans. First, he learns that the wisdom he is searching for is not about doing something appropriately but differently. Secondly, Socrates realizes that although many people know how to do something appropriately, it does not mean that they know about everything. For instance, if one knows how to weave nets does not imply that they good fishermen.

Similarly, the interactions he had with the poets, politicians and artisans helped Socrates realize a lot about how these people view wisdom. It emerged clearly from his interviews that most people only pretend to be wise but in real sense they know nothing. In fact, the different groups of people interviewed view human ignorance and human wisdom as being similar. Only a few, including Socrates are aware of their ignorance. In the end, he concludes that the Oracle was right all along – him being aware of his ignorance made him wiser than others. More importantly, Socrates’ search of this kind of wisdom helped him discover that besides human wisdom, the only other form of wisdom that is superior is one that the God from Oracle of Delphos possess. Human wisdom, when viewed from divine point of view, “is deserving of little or nothing” (23a)¹⁶. This statement helps readers acknowledge the fact that although Socrates possessed human wisdom; he needed to recognize that he was not an expert in all areas.

Conclusion

The apology gives an overview of the speech that Socrates gave while in the court of Athens. As discussed above, Socrates was charged with corrupting the youth, failure to recognize the gods as well as inventing new deities. In his defense, he relied on human wisdom which helped him a lot in presenting his arguments. While Plato’s Apology consisted of several sections, wisdom is largely mentioned section 20c-23b. In fact, these sections are intended at helping Socrates explain to the court what his wisdom comprises of. Unlike artisans and politicians who pretended to be wise, Socrates acknowledged that he does not possess all the knowledge in the world. As a matter of fact, those who think they are ignorant tend to be wise. Ideally, his accusers including Anytus, Meletus and Lycon brought him before the court because they believed he was trying to interfere with the city’s conventional structures of belief. They were only mistaking human ignorance for human wisdom. Overall, this kind of wisdom was worth searching for because it helped Socrates realize that many people only pretend to be wise but in reality, they are not.

Bibliography

Atack, Carol. “Plato’s Queer Time: Dialogic Moments In The Life And Death Of Socrates.” Classical Receptions Journal 12, no. 1 (2020): 10-31.

The Center for Hellenic Studies. “Plato, The Apology of Socrates,” Web.

Ismard, Paulin. “Intolerance and Freedom of Thought in Classical Athens: the Trial of Socrates.” In Intolerance, Polemics, and Debate in Antiquity, pp. 159-185. Brill, 2019.

Tanner, Sonja Madeleine. Plato’s Laughter: Socrates as Satyr and Comical Hero. Albany, New York: Suny Press, 2017.

Taylor, Christopher Charles Whiston. Socrates: A Very Short Introduction. Vol. 27. Oxford University Press, USA, 2019.

Verano, Rodrigo. “The Truth Alone Will Suffice: Traces of Spoken Language in Plato’s Apology of Socrates.” Scripta Classica Israelica 37, no. 6 (2018): 25-43.

Footnotes

1. Tanner, Sonja Madeleine. Plato’s Laughter: Socrates as Satyr and Comical Hero. Albany, New York: Suny Press, 2017.
2. Tanner, Sonja Madeleine. Plato’s Laughter:55
3. Verano, Rodrigo. “The Truth Alone Will Suffice: Traces of Spoken Language in Plato’s Apology of Socrates.” Scripta Classica Israelica 37, no. 6 (2018): 25-43.
4. Verano, Rodrigo. “The Truth Alone Will Suffice, 26
5. Taylor, Christopher Charles Whiston. Socrates: A Very Short Introduction. Vol. 27. Oxford University Press, USA, 2019.
6. Ismard, Paulin. “Intolerance and Freedom of Thought in Classical Athens: the Trial of Socrates.” In Intolerance, Polemics, and Debate in Antiquity, pp. 159-185. Brill, 2019.
7. Ismard, Paulin. “Intolerance and Freedom of Thought in Classical Athens, 160
8. The Center for Hellenic Studies. “Plato, The Apology of Socrates,” March 2, 2021.
9. The Center for Hellenic Studies, para. 8
10. Atack, Carol. “Plato’s Queer Time: Dialogic Moments in the Life and Death of Socrates.” Classical Receptions Journal 12, no. 1 (2020): 10-31.
11. Atack, Carol. “Plato’s queer time, 10
12. Atack, Carol, 11
13. Atack, 12
14. The Center for Hellenic Studies, para. 9
15. The Center for Hellenic Studies, para. 10
16. The Center for Hellenic Studies, para. 11